Ham and charles a



(No Model.)

-- 0. H. NEEDHAM.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Patented Dem-13, 1881.

W V ..,..i.. 1.

ugh)". n. c.

N. PETERS. Phnl UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ORWELL H. NEEDHAM, on NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO ELIAS 1 NEE-D- HAMAND CHARLES A. NEEDHAM, BOTH on SAME PLACE.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 250,834, dated December13, 1881.

Application filed August 152, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORWELL H. NEEDHAM, of the city and county of NewYork, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Musical Instruments, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to musical instruments of various kinds, includingpianos, reed and pipe organs, and other instruments having sound-boards;and it consists in the combination, with the sound-producing devices ofa musical instrument, of a hollow sound-board arranged adjacent to thesound-producing devices, and comprising two imperforate flexible boards,said sound-board being adapted to contain air of a pressure equal to orin excess of that of the atmosphere.

The invention also consists in the combination,with the sound-producin gdevices of a wind musical instrument, of a pressure wind-chest fromwhich air is supplied for their operation, and a hollow sound-boardforming one of the walls of said wind-chest and comprising two flexibleimperforate boards, said sound-board being adapted to contain air of apressure equal to or in excess of that of the atmosphere. The saidsound-producing devices are preferably arranged on one side of thewind-chest, while the said sound-board forms the opposite wall of thewind-chest, and hence the'air in passing to the sound-producing deviceswill move away from the sound-board, and the latter will only beaffected by the sound-waves. The side of the sound-board upon which thesound-waves strike is preferably fiat, and as the air in the sound-boardis compressed by the sound-waves striking against the exterior, theamplitude of the sounds is increased before reaching the ear, and bettereffects obtained.

The invention also consists in the combination, in a wind musicalinstrument, of soundproducing devices, a pressure wind-chest from whichthey are supplied with air for their'operation, and a hollowsound-boardforming an imperforate wall for said wind-chest opposite thesound-producing devices, and adapted to contain air under tension and ofa pressure equal to or in excess of atmospheric pressure. The air inpassing from the wind-chest to the soundproducing devices moves awayfrom the adjacent imperforate wall formed by the sound-board, wherebythe pressure of air upon the imperforate wall of the sound-board ismaintained more constant and uniform.

The accompanying drawing represents a vertical section of such portionsof a reed-organ as are necessary to illustrate my invention.

A designates the case of the instrument, and B designates a reed-boardcontained therein, and provided with two rows of reed-cells, a, in whichare reeds a.

G designates apressurewindchest, arranged below the reed-board and bdesignates avalve, whereby the passage of air to operate the reeds iscontrolled.

D designates a manual key, which acts upon a tracker-pin, 0, and throughsaid pin operates valve 1).

E designates a receiver, which is supplied with air under pressure bymeans of bellows F F, which, as here represented, are operated bytreadles G G, connected with said bellows by rods 0.

The receiver E communicates with the windchest 0 by means of a passageor conduit, d, and it is obvious that whenever the valve 1) is opened bydepressing the key D the reed or reeds which said valve controls will becaused to speak.

Arrangedimmediately below the wind-chest O is a hollow sound-board, H,here shown as comprising a fiat top board, 6, and a convex bottom board,0, and the flat top board, 6, of the sound-board also forms the lowerwall of wind-chest 0. Both the boards 0 e are thin enough to be flexibleunder the impact of sound-waves, and both are imperforate.

Air is supplied to the interior of the soundboard El through a passageor conduit, f, which leads from the passage or conduitcl; audit willtherefore be seen that whatever the pressure of air in the receiver E, acorrespondingpressure of air will be maintainedin the sound-board H. Thesound-board His wholly imperforate except for the passage or conduit, f,and hence it will be seen that the air in the sound-board will be undertension.

In lieu of the sound-board being supplied with air from the samereceiver which supplies air for operating the reeds, twopressure-receivers might be employed, and the pressure of air in thereceiver which supplies the soundboard might be greater than thepressure in the receiver which supplies the sound-producing devices.

It will be observed that the top board, 6, of the sound-board H, whichforms one of the walls of the wind-chest G, is imperforate, and that thesound-board has no communication with the atmosphere.

In lieu of being supplied with air in excess of the atmosphericpressure, the sound-board H might contain air of the atmosphericpressure, and it would in such case be wholly iinperforate. When thereeds a are caused to speak, the sound-waves striking upon the flatexterior of the top 6 of the sound-hoard coinpress the air within thesound-board and slightly inciease the tension thereof. The air thenreacts upon the outer wall, 0, of the soundboard, and the sound-wavesare reproduced by it with greater amplitude.

In lieu of the reeds being operated by air under pressure, they might beoperated by exhaustion, and in such case the receiver E and bellows Fshould be constructed accordingly.

Although my invention is only here shown as embodied in an organ to beoperated manually, it can be embodied with equal advantage ininstruments which are operated or which have their operation controlledby a traveling music sheet or card, perforated or otherwise constructedto produce a tune, and it can he embodied in violins, piano-fortes, andmanyother kinds of musical instruments, the sound-board being alwaysarranged adjacent to the soundproducing devices, so that the sound-waveswill impinge upon its exterior.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. The combination, with the sound-producing devices of a musicalinstrument, ofa hollow sound-board arranged adjacent to thesoundproducing devices, and comprising two flexible imperforate boards,said sound-board being adapted to contain air of a pressure equal to orin excess of that of the atmosphere, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, with the sound-producing devices of a wind musicalinstrument, of apressure wind-chest for supplying air for theiroperation, and a hollow sound-board forming one of the walls of saidwind-chest and comprising two flexible imperforate boards, saidsound-board being adapted to contain air of a pressure equal to or inexcess of that of the atmosphere, substantially as specified.

3. The combination, with the soundproducing devices of a wind musicalinstrumenhof a pressure wind-chest, on one side of which saidsound-producing devices are arranged, and which supplies them with air,and a hollow sound-board forming the wall ofsaid wind-chest op positethe sound-producingdevices, and comprising two flexible imperforateboards, said sound-board being adapted to contain air of a pressureequal to or in excess of that of the atmosphere, all substantially asspecified, whereby air in passing from said wind-chest to saidsound-producing devices moves away from the sound-board.

O. H. NEEDHAM.

Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, ED. GLATZMAYER.

